The Shang Lioness
by abused guard
Summary: k,y'all i'm taking over tasidia's fic in which alanna doesn't become a knight she becomes a shang. i like it, so u better too. expect better spelling and grammer
1. shang bear

  
  


  
  


  
  


  
  


  
  


The Shang Lioness

Disclamer: i don't own anything it all belongs to Tamora Pierce

  
  


Alanna of Trebond was jumping up and down the Shang Bear was coming to

Trebond! Coram one of her thearchers/gardians had invited The Bear to

come to see if Alanna was Shang material. Athough Alanna was only five

she showed great intrest in the fighting arts. Her twin brother, Thom,

showed no intrest what so ever. A servent came into her room and

anounced the arivial of the Shang Bear. Alanna ran out of her rooms

with was quit dificut concidering the fact that she had a dress on,

one that she dispised. When she reached the intrince court she slowed

down to a fast walk.

When she saw Coram she walked over "Thank you for coming." As he said

this he looked down at the sorce of the tugging of his shirt."Ah, yes

this is the reason i have invited you here, Alanna this is The Shang

Bear." Alanna gave a little curtsy.

"When should I begin the testing?" The Beat asked as he looked the

little girl over.

"You may begin whenever you like" replied Coram.

"Then if you please will you show me to the practice courts and we

will begin this instant." Coram showed the Bear the courts as Alanna

ran to her room to change into breeched and a loose shirt.

When she arived at the courts the shang was warming up. He looked over

and smiled as he said, "The fist test will be to she how fast you

learn." he showed her a punching move and Alanna tried it. It Only

took her a couple of times before the Shang was happy."Good, know

let's test your inderince." now he showed her something called and arm

push-up. She could only do five of these and she was sure she had

failled until she looked up and saw the Bear smilling." Very good you

can go now, I wil talk to you later" Alanna ran off to her room in

good spirt she had a strong feeling she had made it!

The Beat turned to Coram and said, " She will do. Have you talked to

her father about this? Few nobles ever become Shang, and no women

nodle at that"

"I'll talk to him, when will you be leaving?"

"In thw morning, on the way to the trainning center I will be making a

few more stops at some of the villiges to recrute the little ones"

"Do you think she will servive?"

"She'll do fine. She's a fast learner."

"Do you have a place to stay tonight?"

"Yes I do, I'll come to pick her up in the morning. Goodbye." With

that The Bear walked around the house and out of the gate.

Coram walked up to Alanna's room and told her the good news. She was

jumping up and down with ecitmint. She ran to her brothers room and

told him the good news, he was a little sad at first but soon cheered

up when he realized how important this was to his twin.

Alanna walked in to her fathers study to tell him the good news.

"Father, I've been accepted into the Shang. I'm leavin in the morning"

er father didn't even look up when he said, "Thats nice dear have a

good trip."

Alanna left the room not expecting anymore of an answer. She went to

her room and packed for the trip. That night she said goodbye to

everone at the fief. She went to bed thinking about all she would

learn in the upcoming years.

She was awoken by a knock at the door the next morning, Time to get

up, you leave in the hour."

Alanna rolled out of bed a gradded her things. Before she knew it she

was heading toward her new like.

  
  


A/N: So how'd you like it? Please review so i'll have more of a reason

to write the next one!LOL


	2. meeting

  
  


  
  


  
  


Chapter 2

  
  


  
  


  
  


"Wake up! Time to get a move on!" After two days of

traveiling they had come to a nearby village. Today

the Bear was going to go to the town center and look

at some of the other children that wished to become a

Shang.

  
  


Alanna walked into the Square behind the Bear and took

a seat on the nearby waterfall. The Bear walked up and

down the line of children and told a few to stand near

Alanna, to the rest he said they could all go home.

For the remaining seven or so he showed them the same

move that he had showed Alanna. For the next hour he

spent time with the children and everso often sent one

home. By the time he was done with all his testing, he

had two remaining, He told those two that they would

be leaving the next day and to say goodbye to their

parents. 

The next morning the two children with their horses

and other things were waiting out side of the inn

where the Bear and Alanna were staying. As soon as

the Bear and Alanna had their gear in place and the

horses were saddled they set off on the last leg of

the trip.

  
  


On the way to the school, Alanna began to get to know

her two companions. The boy was named Travis. He was

six and his father was the local medal smith. The girl

Elizabeth, of Beth as most people call her, was also

six and her father and mother ran the local tavern.

For the next few days they got to know each other well

enough that some would even call then friends. That

night The Bear told them they would be at the school

at around noon the next day. 

  
  


Alanna stayed awake that night and thought of all the

adventures she would have once she became a Shang. She

fell asleep and had pleasant dreams the whole night.

  
  


When Alanna arrived she couldn't help but think how

big it was. It wasn't that tall but there were a lot

of buildings. They were shown to their rooms and

Alanna was paired with Beth, and Travis had the room

next door. For the rest of the day the Bear showed

Alanna and the other children around until it was time

for dinner.

  
  


At dinner Alanna, Travis, and Beth were introduced to

the rest of the students who were training at the

moment. The three took a seat at a half-empty table

and started to eat. One person at the table look over

and smiled while saying "What a bunch of babies they

won't even last the first week with out going home and

crying to their mommies" The group at the other end of

the table started to laugh. 

  
  


Another student walked up behind them and looked at

the newcomers. "Welcome to Shang" She said as she held

out her hand. Alanna shook it "I'm Rachel, I'm the one

in charge of you for the next week, just until you get

the hang of where everything is and the schedule."

  
  


For the next week Alanna woke up and performed tasks

like cleaning the older Shang's rooms and washing the

bathrooms and tables. After a month, of this she began

to learn other thing like how to speak other

languages, and when the noon bell rang she began to

learn hand to hand fighting. When she mastered the

basics, she began to learn harder skills and started

to learn how to handle other weapons. The first

weapons she mastered was the staff she spent three

months being drilled on it until she could do all the

moves in her sleep

  
  


Thanx to all ya'll who have helped me- Feirysong

And Satrn68 t(he one who thinks she is the

cute one!)


	3. lioness

  
  


  
  


Tasidia has given me permission to write her fic (this one duh) so nah! Of course she has to approve it, but if she knows what'sgood 4 her she'l agree(after all I can play the french horn VERY loud.) 

This is Tas sorry but I can?t continue this fic cause I don?t have time with gym, and EoCs, saturn on the other hand has no life(saturn "true true"), carry on.

  
  


Alanna woke up to the sound of fighting. Oh no I overslept she jumped out of bed and got her clothes on a s fast as she could. When she was finished she looked around for her staff and noticed Beth was still asleep. She put the staff down and looked out the window. It was still night but she still heard the fighting so she decided to see what was going on she walked out of her room and over to the practice courts. What she saw made her stop in awe. 

Two Shang warriors were fighting they moved so fast it was as if they were one big blur the smaller one with the red hair threw a final kick and sent the other one flying. When the other fighter got up they shook hands and got in to the fighting and called over to her. "Hey you what are you doing up so late?"

Alanna was shocked. She'd just been ready to leave. The Shang had strict laws about getting out of bed in the middle of the night. "I-uh- woke up to fighting. I wanted to find out what it was. I-I was just leaving."

The red-haired one smiled, "Very well, what's your name."

"Alanna, sir. Alanna of Trebond"

" A noble, and a girl at that," the other man, tall and muscular with brown hair and green eyes, commented.

The red head nodded, "So, Alanna of Trebond, I'm sorry to have gotten you out of bed. But I'm curious, how good are you at Shang?"

Alanna was shocked. What should she say? "Well the masters say I'm good, but I've only been in Shang for four years. I?m nine years old."

"Why don't we have a fight?"

" A fight, sir? But you'd hurt me. And besides, it's the middle of the night, I'm not allowed to be out, and we might wake somebody. Also you have more experience than me, I'd surely fail."

The other man chuckled, "She has a point."

" I know she has a point, Bruce, but I'll tone it down. I'm not known for being mean to students." The red head turned to Alanna. "So what do you say? Will you show me what you got?"

"Of course, sir." She couldn't refuse an accomplished Shang, much less one that seemed as important as this one. She didn't know who he was, but he carried this important air about him.

He led her to the practice courts. While she stretched she noticed him staring at her. Making sure she stretched right, she blushed. She didn't feel ready. She could fight her peers, but a grown Shang who seemed important was an entirely different matter. But she'd been raised not to show her fear, so she didn't. She stood up, done stretching and walked over to her competitor. 

" You're done? Good, now we can start. Bruce, will you watch? We need someone to stop the fight and do decide on her technique."

" Do I have a choice?" the red head glared at him." I'd be glad to, Liam." Liam. Where had she heard that name before? Puttng that aside to think about later, she walked onto a practice court.

They bowed, and then assumed the fighting stance. (A/N I suck at fighting scenes so heed this warning and no flames on this). Alanna's heart fluttered and her stomach started doing flips (something her body hadn't mastered yet). He striked with an upper hit, she blocked and tried to strike back, but he blocked and snuck a punch through her defense into her stomach. She blushed, that had not happened in many months. She started trying to get a leg up through his legs(his weakest area), but he kept blocking. He got many hits in, but she could tell he didn't hit with full force so neither did she, but she still hit hard. Finally, he knocked her down, and placed his foot on her stomach to mark a victory. Then he reached a hand down for her to grab. 

"Wow, you're good. Especially for a nine year old. But you need to work on some muscle control. You weren't hitting hard enough," Liam commented.

"Well you weren't hitting hard so I figured I shouldn't sir, just to be fair," she told him.

Bruce chuckled, as did Liam. "It takes a good person to get a compliment from

the Shang Dragon. He's very conceited, in that way." 

Alanna was shocked! She had just fought the Shang Dragon, and he'd complimented her!

"Don?t look so shocked youngster. Our Dragon may be conceited, but he doesn t ike to reveal who he is."

" Bruce, you shouldn't be spreading lies to Alanna." Liam remarked.

" I wasn't spreading lies," Bruce grumbled. 

" You have a remarkable catlike grace. And you seem fearless. Like a lion." Liam said.

" Lioness, Liam. She's a girl." Bruce corrected.

" I know that." Liam retorted. Then he remembered Alanna was there. "Are you ahead of your studies than most of the students?"

Alanna nodded.

Bruce saw where this was going, " Liam you know you can't take her out of Shang."

"But if she's ahead maybe in a couple of years I could take her out and show her some other stuff. You know train her."

Bruce snorted, "Train her better you mean."

"Yeah I guess." Then Liam remembered that Alanna was still there. "Come on Lioness let's get you to bed."

Alanna looked up at him, " Do you really mean it? In a couple of years you

could take me around the world with you." Her eyes filled with earnest.

Liam chuckled, "I'll try. You seem like you really like Shang."

" I love combat. To be able to defend yourself no matter what, with or without, weapons is so amazing."

They reached her room. " Then little Lioness I'll try really really hard." 

Alanna went back to her room, and went to sleep with a smile on her face.

  
  


  
  


  
  


  
  



	4. no unearthly clue

Subj: 
**shanglioness4**

Date: 
6/5/01 10:11:26 AM Central Daylight Time

From: 
[Starbucks95][1]

To: 
[Zizikicafe][2]
  
  
Hey Alanna," Beth called, "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you. Did you know the Shang Dragon is here!?"  
Alanna stopped walking and turned to face Beth, "Yeah, I talked to him last night." She didn't mention their conversation though.  
Beth's jaw dropped, "You didn't. Did you? Ohmygosh you did! And you didn't tell me! How could you!? I mean we're like best friends and best friends share this stuff right. That's just the way it is. I can't believe it, I just can't b-"  
"Beth," Alanna interrupted, "Stop blabbering, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I couldn't find you." She also didn't mention that she hadn't intended on telling her, but she figured she should leave that out.  
"So what did you talk about?"  
"Shang. He asked me how old I was, did I like Shang, you know typical stuff. And can we walk? I really want to get back to the room. After practice some boy pushed me in the mud."  
Beth examined Alanna's clothes now noticing the mud all over them, "Oh all right."  
After they'd reached the room and Alanna had changed clothes, the two of them started to straighten their room. As Alanna picked up her pillow off the ground there was a sound coming from the door. She looked up to see Beth picking up a sheet of paper.  
"What does it say?" Alanna inquired.  
" It says 'Lioness, I'll try'. There's no signature. Who's the Lioness? I guess they got the wrong room," Beth wondered.  
"Yeah, I guess," Alanna muttered with a smile on her face. He remembered. Yes.  
"Well I'm done why don't I help you Alanna?" Beth asked.  
"No, no I'm fine. You go and talk to Rachel. We haven't talked to her in a while. Go find out where she is and talk. I'll catch up later."  
"How will you find us?" Seeing Alanna's look, she tried to discourage her, "Alanna, no. You know the Masters see the Gift as a crutch. I really don't know how they let you stay in, but please don't use it."  
"Okay, Beth I won't use it. After you've talked come back with her so I can talk to her."  
"Okay that works, but I'll wait for a while so you can clean your room," Elizabeth pounced out of the room.   
Alanna hurried to finish her side of the room, she needed time to think and she couldn't do that while cleaning. When she finished she climbed onto her favorite part of the room- the window. It was nice a wide so she could fit in it. She crawled in, and settled back to think.  
Would Liam really keep his promise? Of course he would, he seemed to really like her, and he'd slipped her a note that basically said he would and it had included his pet name for her. He'd remember, he had too.  
That out of the way, she decided to think about something that had bothered her for quite some time.  
Did she really want to be Shang? Or did she want to be a knight. She knew it was impossible for her to become a knight. There hadn't been a woman knight in a century! But wouldn't it be cool to be the first? Yes it would have, but she wouldn't have met the friends she had now, and she wouldn't know how to fight like she could. Yes, being Shang had it's advantages.   
She leaned back to imagine what it would be like to be a page. She might make a lot of friends, but it would be hard. She'd have this huge secret, she hated secrets. But she might get to meet the prince who everyone said was very handsome. She grinned trying to imagine what he'd look like. Right as the image came into focus the door opened.  
"Hey Alanna!" Rachel called, "Long time, no see."  
Alanna hopped off, "So true, so having fun?"  
"Oh yes, I'm having so much fun. They're teaching us on herbal remedies and other things that "could save our life", as our teacher says."  
Alanna chuckled. Rachel had never like her teachers. "Where's Beth?"  
"Oh, some guy stopped her in hall and started flirting with her. I figured it would be best just to leave them alone."  
"Yes it would be. When she starts flirting she never stops." Rachel nodded, for she and Alanna had both seen Beth flirting.  
"Ok, this is depressing me. What else can we talk about?" Rachel said, "Oh I know the Shang Dragon."  
Alanna cringed.  
"No? You don't want to talk about the Dragon?"  
"No, I don't. That's all anyone talks about. I'm sick of it."  
"Oh I guess I see your point. Well what do you want to talk about?"  
"How about the stuff they call food that they're now serving you and us."  
"Oh dearie I have it worse. Once a week I'm forced to go out and find herbs from the forest, and eat it. That is my lunch and dinner. Starting next month it's everything I eat on that day. Then they add another day, and so on."  
"Well that's good for you, but yesterday the apple I had had half a worm in it after I bit into it."  
"You're kidding?"  
"Nope."  
They continued on for a while about this and many topics, until dinner.  
87^87^87^87^87^87^87^87^87^  
A year passed. Alanna became an expert on any weapon the Shang gave her, but sword was her best. The Shang masters were always surprised. Alanna made more friends, and she dreamed about what it would be like to be a page. Those were very interesting. Almost like a premonition, or that they were really happening. Beth was still a flirt, and she often had many guys come up to her. It was not uncommon for Alanna to come into her room to find Beth and another guy talking. Whenever she would talk with Rachel about it, Rachel always told her that she should wait until Beth becomes of age to lie with a man. Alanna cringed at the very thought. Beth was only 11. And every day Alanna prayed that Liam would come through.  
  
Hehe sorry it's been so long, but it's summer for me and i've been busy with exams(my fave thing) O and i'd like to apologize 2 everyone i talk to. I'm apologizing for the other times i gloated about that, and no i will not stop or shut up. Thank u.  


   [1]: mailto:Starbucks95
   [2]: mailto:Zizikicafe



End file.
